The families did not recieve
disbursements from the fund for over three months after the disaster because
it took some time to gather the money from the various banks across the
state. Elizabeth Stevenson went to Castle Gate to help the committee gain
a clear understanding of the widows' situations. The members of the committee
realized that they needed to have a liason between themselves and the
widows so they hired Annie Palmer a social worker. (Series
19423, Correspondence)